As all dui attorneys can tell you, driving while under the influence is nothing if not a problem here in the United States. It happens more than you might think it does, and the consequences of drunk driving can be life long for all parties involved. Drunk driving can even lead to death – and does so on far too frequent of a basis.
Drunk driving related car accidents are high, as dui attorneys and criminal defense lawyers know, as it has been found that as many as three hundred thousand people will drive drunk over the span of just one single day in the United States. And even more shockingly – only around four thousand to five thousand of those people are actually ever arrested. In fact, the typical repeat offender of drunk driving will drive drunk for a total of, on average, eighty times before they are ever even pulled over and apprehended for the very first time.
Driving while under the influence of other drugs is also a problem, and car accidents that resulted from driving while under the influence of a substance other than alcohol make up as many as sixteen percent of all car accidents here in the United States. These accidents can be tied to drugs that are legal as well as those that are illegal – and even drugs that many people erroneously consider safe to drive under the influence of, like marijuana (when this could truthfully not be further from the case). And in just one year, it is estimated that more than ten million people will get behind the wheel while they are under the influence of an illicit drug – and even more will do so while impacted by a legal one, as both can pose significant risks to the driver, passengers, and other cars if they are in any way at all mind altering.
But though dui attorneys have their hands full, dui attorneys are not the only lawyers busy in personal injury cases that are related to car accidents. Aside from dui attorneys, there are lawyers working on cases that are related to distracted driving. Distracted driving, thanks to the advent of technology and particularly of that of the smart phone, is becoming a growing concern here in the United States as well as in any number of other places all around the world. Distracted driving can be particularly deadly simply because of the fact that many people don’t realize just how dangerous of a practice it is and more than six hundred thousand people will be in some way distracted while on the road at any given minute here in the United States alone. Distracted driving can mean any number of things, but it most often correlates with smart phone use, even if it is just looking down for a mere five seconds. In fact, if you are going fifty five miles an hour or more, looking down for that span of time will mean that you cross the distance of a football field without even looking at the road. As you might assume this can be hugely and highly dangerous.
Keeping young drivers safe presents another challenge, as teenage and new drivers are likely to be more risky in their driving habits and get into a life altering or even a life ending accident. Dui attorneys know that teenagers can be likely to not understand the serious implications of drinking while driving, and some of them can be too scared to fess up to their parents about their drinking and ask for a ride. Unfortunately, this means that more and more teenagers will get behind the wheel while they are drunk or somehow otherwise intoxicated, be it on marijuana or another illicit or illegally taken substance. This is a serious problem, as they could potentially alter the course of their lives forever, even if they are lucky enough to escape death and injury alike in the unfortunate event of a car crash.
Dui attorneys have their hands full in the United States, as driving while under the influence is a growing problem.